Retired pilot builds WW1 plane and runway in garden

Aviation buffs around the globe dream of owning their very own World War I
fighter plane. But Mike Clark has made that dream a reality – as well as
building a runway in his back garden to fly it from

12:20PM BST 25 Jul 2014

Mike Clark, a 62-year-old commercial airline pilot, who lives near Horsham in West Sussex, is the proud owner of a Fokker Eindecker.

The single-seater monoplane, designed by Dutch aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker, was the first purpose-built German fighter aircraft. It was also the first plane to be fitted with a synchronisation gear, allowing the pilot to fire a machine gun through the arc of the propeller without striking the blades.

The replica Eindecker took Mr Clark 18 months to build and made its maiden flight in June 2012. In a bid for historical authenticity, Mr Clark borrowed both the colour scheme and registration number of German flying ace Ernst Udet, the top-scoring surviving WWI flying ace.